She said: “We cannot believe she survived. Her injuries were horrific but she’s always been a fighter.

“She is fiercely independent and before all this was perfectly healthy. Now she says she wants to die and feels like a burden on the family because we are having to take care of her.

“It is so upsetting. These dogs should be banned – they are just too dangerous.

“There is no good reason for people to own them. It is a miracle my mum isn’t dead.”

Mrs Martin said her mother was taken to Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales after the attack in Trowbridge Green. She was then transferred to the specialist burns and plastic surgery unit at Swansea’s Morriston Hospital where she had skin grafts for the wounds to her legs.

But Mrs Martin said her mother’s age meant doctors could not give her an anaesthetic and said she had to undergo the operations with an epidural which she said left her in agony.

Mrs Martin said: “One minute my mother was fine for her age, the next she is lying in a hospital in an awful condition in a lot of pain and it will take her some time to recover from what has been a real trauma for her and the whole family.

“In the hospital in Cardiff the doctors were saying they were really concerned about my mother because of her age and because of the shock of the attack. It just goes to show how sudden and dangerous these dog attacks can be. Luckily my mother was strong but one thing is for certain – a young child would not have survived a vicious attack like that.”

Mrs Perkins, a former cleaner, is now recovering at her daughter Shirley’s house where the attack took place.

It is understood South Wales Police, who are investigating the attack, are waiting for the result of DNA tests to determine the dog’s exact breed.

The force confirmed that officers were called on July 29 to a report that a 91-year-old woman had been injured by a Staffordshire bull terrier.